How Endurance can be boosted ?

ENDURANCE in Sports

ENDURANCE is your ability to sustain a physical activity, a repetitive action or exert a force for a long period.

Many sports need some degree of BOTH muscular and cardiovascular endurance to sustain an activity. From bouts of high intensity exercise in short time frames (football) to continuous changes of intensities from low to high over 3+ minutes (basketball, soccer) -- having excellent endurance means your muscles can perform more work in less time and you will be able to perform better and last longer in the game. Training for your game is one way to improve your endurance.

BUT ever wondered why most athletes, despite training so hard, get injuries and lose their ranks as they cross their teens? This is because athletes tend to focus much of their time and effort on practicing and perfecting their skills to enhance performance, but forget about the support they need from the RIGHT NUTRITION to sustain in the sport.

FOODS that will help END-UR-RACE!

Do you know that the low energy levels you feel, the loss of muscle strength and feeling tired just an hour into your training are all symptoms of dehydration. It is important to always STAY HYDRATED during your endurance training to avoid fatigue and dizziness. Depending on the duration of your training – you should be hydrating with either water or combine that with a Sports Drink.

As a dietician, my personal favourite for athletes is COCONUT WATER, with the correct balance of electrolytes and sweetness, I highly recommend athletes to reach out for coconut water when possible.

90 min into training, our muscles are demanding for something more than just the fluids- reaching out for POTASSIUM RICH FOODS during training will help you stay longer as they regulate body water and aid in muscle contractions – nuts, bananas and peaches are great options.

Dedicated training while drinking plenty of fluids and still finding it difficult to go that extra mile???? Try a glass of BEETROOT JUICE a couple of hours before your training and see the difference yourself! Recent research in the Journal of Applied Physiology, 2009 has shown that eating beets or drinking the juice of beets in preparation for an endurance event may significantly improve your performance – athletes were able to sustain low-intensity activities with less effort and were able to achieve a 16% improvement in high-intensity performance – making this the latest addition to the superfoods for endurance athletes.  

REMEMBER THAT it is not just the nutrition during your training – but also – what you eat during the day in your diet that matters. You need to be having the right percentage of carbs-proteins and fats to BUILD YOUR RESERVES OF GLYCOGEN that will sustain you longer.

WITHOUT the RIGHT NUTRITION, you will not perform as well or as long, and will only INCREASE YOUR RISK FOR INJURIES AND ILLNESS. Your training might be sufficient but if your body gives in, the efforts you have put during training will not pay.

Visit www.quanutrition.com to improve your game NOW.

Article posted by  Suhasini Viswanathan

Dietician and Certified Diabetes Educator.